Lao man arrested, 350kg of marijuana seized in Nakhon Phanom

A Lao man was arrested in Nakhon Phanom's That Phanom district after he and others allegedly smuggled 350 kilogrammes of marijuana across the Mekong River into Thailand, police said.

Pol Col Sipanan Sornkhunkaew, commander of the Nakhon Phanom Sri Sakunwong Border Patrol Police camp, said on Thursday that the arrest was made on Tuesday night at the Mekong river bank in Ban Sai Mool village of Tambon Nam Klam.

Sipanan said the suspect was identified as Yuen Sisawat, 24, a resident of Savannakhet province in Laos.

The border patrol police also seized his long-tailed boat and a .38 revolver.

Sipanan said a BPP police unit spotted four or five people on the boat from Laos carrying bags from the boat onto the river bank.

When police approached them, the other suspects fled while Yuen was arrested.

Police found 350 bars of marijuana in the bags and each bar weighed one kilogramme.